Firearms, particularly military style carbines and rifles, are often outfitted with rail systems. Historically, Picatinny rails were attached to or formed into the upper receivers of M-16 style firearms to which sights such as scopes, red dots, and even iron sights have been mounted. Over time, more and more mounting rails have been added with current models having mounting rails on the receiver and four mounting rails on the forward hand guard. The reason is that a vast number of rail mountable firearm accessories have become available. Examples of these firearms accessories include the aforementioned sights as well as lasers, flashlights, bayonets, grenade launchers, sling swivels, cameras, bipods, vertical fore grips, and other items.
A number of the firearm accessories are electrically powered. Many solutions simply include battery compartments. For example, a flashlight accessory is basically a battery powered flashlight with rail compatible mount points. More recently, solutions are being developed for electrifying the firearms and rail systems. Hines (U.S. Pat. No. 7,627,975) and Thompson (US Patent Application 2011/0000120) teach bringing electrical power to forward mounted accessories. Darian (US Patent Applications 2010/0192446, 2010/0192448, and 2011/0131858) also teaches powering firearm accessories from a firearm rail. Such rails can be referred to as empowered mounting rails.
Current small arms use mounting rail systems for attaching accessories to the small arm. For example, M4 and M16 carbines are often fitted with a single piece handguard that incorporates up to four Picatinny rails. Picatinny rails are well known mounting rails that meet the specifications contained in MIL-STD-1913 and MIL-STD-1913 Notice 1. Another mounting rail called the Weaver rail is a notoriously well known variation of the Picatinny rail. Battaglia discloses a mounting rail system in U.S. Pat. No. 6,792,711 while Olson discloses another in U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,363.
FIG. 1, labeled as “Prior Art”, illustrates an M16 type firearm 101 with mounting rails 106. The specific rifle is a flat top model having a mounting rail 106 on the upper receiver 102 as well as the four on the handguard 105. As is standard for M16 type firearms, the handguard 105 is attached to the firearm by being pushed into a front handguard cup 104 by a delta ring 103. The illustrated handguard 101 has four non-powered mounting rails 106 of which three are visible. A number of accessories have been developed to attach to small arms by way of mounting rails 106. The mounting rails have recoil grooves that help lock accessories in place and help users attach accessories in repeatable positions. Note that the term “firearm” used here and throughout this document is intended to include firearm replicas. In general, firearm replicas are toys or models that look substantially like fully functioning firearms and are designed to accommodate the same firearm accessories as those used with fully functional firearms. As such, FIG. 1 can also be a picture of a firearm replica.
FIG. 2, labeled as “Prior Art”, illustrates a barrel nut 201 having a barrel nut sprocket 202. The barrel nut sprocket 202 has numerous teeth 203 that can provide a gripping surface for turning the barrel nut 201. As is well known by those familiar with modern firearms, the barrel nut attaches the barrel to the upper receiver. Many current handguards are “free floating” in that they attach to the barrel nut but do not touch the barrel.
FIG. 3, labeled as “Prior Art”, illustrates a barrel nut 201 attaching a barrel 301 to a firearm receiver 102. The barrel nut 201 is tightened onto the receiver 102 by gripping the barrel nut sprocket 202 and twisting. A special tool is often used to tighten the barrel nut 201 until the barrel nut 201 and the barrel 301 are firmly attached to the receiver 102.
Many of the current art electrified rail systems use powered firearm mounting rails that conduct electrical energy from an electrical input connection to one or more rail mounted devices. Systems and methods providing alternative methods of controlling and attaching electronic and electrified devices are needed.